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Google and its responsibility for search results

Shockingly, they also uncover other examples such as the screenshot above (apologies for reproducing it) in which Google's knowledge graph is displaying concerning and highly offensive content.

In the BBC piece, I argue both that algorithms are not neutral, and that Google occupies a position of immense power because of the huge amount of digital content that it mediates. As such, they need to take responsibility for these results. They can't just point to the algorithm and say 'well, this wasn't our intent' (an argument that I make more directly in this recent piece: 'Let’s make platform capitalism more accountable').

For people interested in the provenance of some of Google's more questionable search results, please read these recent articles that Heather Ford and I have been working on: